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CDCynergy "Lite"

Welcome to this "lighter" version of the Social Marketing Edition of CDCynergy. This tool is intended for those who have previous social marketing experience and, in particular, those who are familiar with the full edition. This CDCynergy tool is based on best practice social marketing principles, and will assist you in developing, implementing, and evaluating an effective social marketing plan.

CDCynergy Lite is an updated version based on the original Social Marketing Edition of CDCynergy. The original was developed jointly by CDC, the Academy for Educational Development and the Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative, a component of the Turning Point Initiative supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We received feedback about how to improve the original tool from many of its users, took their suggestions, and made the revisions for this version. Be sure to check out other versions of CDCynergy.

The tool takes you step-by-step through the process, giving you instructions on "What It Is" and "How It Is Done" with tools and templates for each step. Appendices contain useful charts, forms, and questions to help one move through the planning process. CDCynergy is organized into these major areas:

Know what problem you are trying to address will help you keep the main goal of your social marketing effort in mind. The problem description section clarifies what the public health problem is, who is affected, and what you propose to do to address it. A full, clear problem description and analysis will help you decide whether to undertake a social marketing effort.

Market research (also called consumer or audience research) is research designed to enhance your understanding of the target audience's characteristics, attitudes, beliefs, values, behaviors, determinants, benefits and barriers to behavior change in order to create a strategy for social marketing programs.

A market strategy is a plan of action for your entire social marketing program. Market strategy encompasses the specific target audience segment(s), the specific desired behavior change goal, the benefits you will offer, and the interventions that will influence or support behavior change.

Interventions are methods used to influence, facilitate or promote behavior change (e.g., holding training classes to help seniors start their own walking clubs, developing a Website to promote drug-free activities to youth, expanding clinic hours to improve working mothers' access to HIV testing).

Effective program evaluation is a systematic way to improve and account for public health actions by involving procedures that are useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate. Evaluation activities should be useful, feasible, accurate, proper, and ethical.

Implementation is the point at which all your planning and preparation come together. Among the activities critical to your program's success are planning the launch, holding a news event, taking advantage of unexpected opportunities, and defusing pottential threats to your efforts.